Process of forming storage-battery-plate grids.



E. E. EVERETT. PRocEss 0E EORMTNG STORAGE BATTERY PLATE GRTDS.

APPLICATION .'ETLED TUNE 3,1914.

Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

l IL 27 @A6 FX- @PE- WTTNESSESE- A E TRM/ETATOR Mw/a Ky l .A 6( W51/ a' l L n I A I @En er EDWARD EARLE EVERETT, OF PILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 PHILA DELPH. STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY, 0F IPHILADELHIA, PENNSYLVANEA, A

CORPORATION 0F FENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS 0F FORMING STORAGE-BTTERY-LATE GIE/IDS.

Original application led .Tune 23, 1913, Serial No. 775,408. Divided and this application 1914. SeIa1No.842,689.

To' all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, EDWARD EARLE lvnnnrr, a citizen of the United States, rcsiding at ,hiladelphim in the State of rennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Processes of Forming StorageBattery-Platc Grids, whereof the 'following is a specification, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawing'.

This application is a division of my application Serial 775,408, tiled ,lune 23, 1913, wherein the claims are limited to storage battery grids such as may be produced by the process herein claimed,

My improvement is particularly applicable to produce storage battery plates of the type lrnown to the trade e"Diamondl grids, because the openings to receive the active material, in the grati forming' the opposite piane tier-root, are oi' the conventional rl'iombic diamond shape. Said product of my invention comprises a unitary nie-tal casting including a rectangular .plane traine haring single members respectively forming the top and opposite vertical edges or". said plate, and haring two parallel base bers at the bottoni edge said plate, each one-half the thickness ot plate; said iframe having; ve partition bars, recessed in the direction of their length between said base bars and erdending parallel with said opposite vertical trame members, in spaced relation, formino between them a series of six vertical chambers in said easting, for active material, said chambers opening between said base bars and extending to the frame member at the top of said casting, said chambers being inclosed at the opposite plane faces of the ca stinga by respective gratings each formed ot strips, in unitary rela-- tion with said casting, of outwardly con- .verging V-sliapcd cross section. said strips intersecting in diagonal cassated relation, with diamond shaped spaces between them; the intersections of the strips in cach girating being opposite the centers of tbe diamond-shaped spaces of the other grating;

the strips intersecting' intermediate of saidpartitions at the bottom thercotn being separate from the adjacent base bar at said in tersections and having auxiliary strips eX- tending from the junctions ot said base bar with sald partitions 1n connection with said Specification of Letters Patent.

rate-mea Mar. e, soie.

tiled June Zi,

intersecting strips between the intersections thereof and said partitions. ln accordance with' my process said casting is molded around removable cores extending,V between said two base bars and occui'iying the respec-I tive chambers between saidpartition bars, and said base bars, being one-half the thickness ot said plate, primarily project outward from the respective planes of the opposite `oraminous faces of said plate, so to afford a space between said base bars coextensivo with. the length thereof' between the junctions oi said base rs with said single traine nien'ibers vely forming the opposite ver ,al edges of said plate, to permit said cores to be removed. There upon, said base l'ars are pressed together, to close said chan'ibers at the bottom thereor", and the active material, in the form p: 1, or otherwise. is tigen manually., or otnerwise7 pressed into said chambers through the diamondshaped openings of said gratings. or otherwise means et a pasting;` paddle, or' othersuitable means. The recesses in said partition bars between said base ba rs permit the latter to be pressed tightly together by the collapse of said recesses. The strip-s intersecting intermediate ot said partitions at the bottom thf Y'cof are lett separate from the adjacent base bar at said intersections so that when the bottom is l shut said strips will not be depressed to restrict the area of the chambers ther-eat, but remain iinsh'with the opposite plane 'faces of the plate. it" said intersecting strips were attached to the base bars. instca d ot being separate from the latter, they would be depressed inward not only restrict-- ingr the area ot the chambers immediately adjacent said base bars, but would aii'ord no support for the active material immediately above said base bars. which material would have a tci'idency to tall out by the jarring movement to which such plates are subA iectcd, particularly when used in motor ve hielos. (En the other hand, the pressure ot the activo material packed into the grid 'tt-nds to torce said bottom intersections of ill) 'Sii

lproduct of my improvement.

critureshereinafter more definitely. speci In the drawing Figure I is a fragmentary elevation of a estorage battery grid Fig. II 1s a vertical sectional view oi said grid, taken onjthe line II, II in Fig. I. Fig. III is an inverted plan view of the base edge ot' Said grid as shown in Figs. I and II, z'. e. with the'base bars in the separated position in which they are primarily cast. F ig; IV is a fragmentary elevation of the right hand edge of said grid extending vertically in Fig. I. V is an inverted plan view, similar to ig. III but showing the base bars pressed together to close the, opening 'primarily' existing between them. Fig. VI

is a. fragmentary sectional view, taken on the line VI, VI in Fig. V. Fig. VII is an inverted plan view similar to Fig. III but showing a 4modified form of product of my invention.J Fig. VIII is la. fragmentary elevation of the right band edge of the grid shown in Fig. VII. Fig. IK is an inverted plan view similar to Fig. VII but showing the base bars pressed together to close the opening primarily existing between them.

Fig. X is a fragmentary elevation, similar to Fig. VIII but showing said base bars pressed together as in Fig. IX. Fig. XI is a fragmentary elevationgsimilar to the lower left hand corner of Fig: I, but showing modified form of gratings.

Referring to Figs. I to VI inclusive; the

plate 1 having the terminal lug 2 is a unitary metal casting including a rectangular plane frame having single members 4, 5 and 6 respectively-forming the top and opposite vertical edges of said plate, and having two parallel base bars 7 at the bottom edge of said plate.. As shown in Figs. III, V and VI each ot said base bars 7 is one-half the thickness of said plate so that when pressed together as shown in Fig. V thelr opposite plane faces are flush with the opposite plane faces of said side frame members 5 and 6. l In order to permit said base bars to thus close together they are tapered to less thickness at their junctions with said frame members 5 and 6 as shown in Figs. III and V. Said unitary metal 4 casting includes the five partition bars 9 which are recessed, in the direction of their length, between said basebars 7 as indicated at 10, the upper ends o f said recesses being 'wedge shaped as indicated in Fig. II. Saidl partition bars 9 e'X- tend parallel with said opposite vertical frame members 5 and 6, in spaced relation, forming between them a series of six vertical chambers 12 in said casting, for active material, said chambers opening between said base bars and extending to the rame'member 4 at the top of said casting, as shown in Figs. II and III. Said chambers 12 are -other grating.

strips 18 intersecting' intermediate of said air-aser partition bai-sf) at the bottom thereo'ii'are separate from the adjacent base liar I at said intersection and have auxiliary strips 20 extending from the junctions of said-ibase bar 7 with said partitions Si in connection with said. intersectinfr strips 18 between the intersections of the latter .and said parti tions; -said strips 2() being in iniitary cast relation with said strips .1.8, base bar 7, partition bars 9 etc. As ab'ove noted such constructionpermits the hase bar 7 to be compressed fiom the primary position, in which they are cast, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. V 1I, to the final position, indicated in full lines in said tigure, without depressing the adjacent intersecting strips 18 to restrict the area of the charnbers 12, and leaving said intersections in position to support the active mater-.iai without liabilitv of being thrust ontward by pressureof said materiakthe latter tendency being overcome by said auxiliary strips 20. In this connection, it may ne observed with reference to Fig. II that the strips I7 and 18 adjacent the base bars T are of slightly greater thickness than the other strips remote from said base bar, and consequently adapted to withstand greater pressure ci, the active material tending to outwardly displace said strips.

It may be observed, with reference to Fig. V, that the construction and procedure above described, leaves openings 22 between said base bars 7 adjacent the respective side frame members 5 and 6, because the latter are not recessed like thepartition bars 9. However, grids may be made without snob openings 22 by recessing said frame members 5 and; 6 as indicated at 23 and 24 in Figs. VII and VIII, the base bars 26 in this product of my invention being of the same thickness throughout their length so that they may be pressed into contact with each other as shown inFigs. IX and X.

VI prefer to make the strips of the gratings intersect intermediate of the vertical partition bars 9 as shownv in Fig. I to' aiford sufficient rigidity to'prevent buckling of the grids for positive plates. However, the grids for negative plates, are not required to be as rigid as for positive plates,

because of themore yielding character of' icc Se inclosed 4at the opposite plane faces of the'4 the active material of the negative plates, 13o

Limes? and may'be made of simpler form, for in- Stance as shown in Fig. XI, wherein the gratings at the respectively opposite faces of the plate are respectively formed by strips 3l and 82 which extend from the frame members 33 to the vertical partition bars 34,-and between the latter, without intersection. Said strips 31 and 32 are preferably so disposed as to-ailord diamondshaped openings through the grid as shown in Fig. XI.

The base bars 36, shown in Fig. XI, may be constructed and arranged like the base bars '7, as shown in II to VI inclusive, or'likc the base bars 263 shown in Figs. VII.- to X inclusive. That is to say, said partition bars 34. are recessed in the direction of their length between said base bars 3G as indicated at 10 in Fig. II, but thev frame bars 33 may be either thus recessed or not. Said grids are adal to be supported by resting upon twok os, extending trans` versely to their planes, at the bottom of the battery cells, where I have made the base bars of y,f reater vertical extent, as indicated at el() in Fig. I'and 41 in Fig. XI. I find it preferable to make said castings of lead alloyed with antimony suilicient to impart the desired degree of rigidity.

It may be observed that the removable cores aforesaid include plane blades co'- extensive with said six chambers 12, with spaces between them coextensive with the partition bars 9; said blades having between them elements coextensive with the recesses 10, it the form of casting shown in 'Figs I to IV inclusive is to be produced.

If the form of casting shown in Figs. V to X inclusive is to be produced, said removable cores also include elements coextensive with the recesses 23 and 2i. In either ease, said core elements cooperate with opposed mold elements having projections of the rhombic diamond shape, .and the other shapes, ot the openings in the opposite foraminous faces of the above described plates; which projections bear upon said blade elements so as to afford between them spaces coextensive withthe above described diagonally intersecting strips of the respective gratings 14 and l5.

I dg not desire to limit myself to the precise details of procedure herein set' forth, as it'is obvious that various modifications may be made therein Without departing from the essential 'features ot' my invention as defined in tbe appended claim.

I claim rl`he method which consists in casting metal around a core structure to form a hollow substantially parallel sided grid inn cluding two separated substantially parallel base members; bodily withdrawing the core structure from said hollow througn the space between the base members;and thereafter; pressing said base members into close engagement.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this vtwenty'sixth day of May, 1914.

EDlVARD EARLE EVIGRETT.

Jaulas M. SKINNnn, S'rocKToN H. Mon'rrMnR. 

